The menu is inventive, seasonal and eclectic. I'm a big fan of the kale salad with nigella, hazelnuts, and crispy carrots and the green barley salad with cara cara orange, French feta and shiso vinaigrette. Be sure to say hi to their lovely hostesses, Tash and Reesh.

It’s hard to believe that we’re already two weeks into SPRING! I'm feeling pretty excited to finally get to do some fun springtime activities. Here are some of my favorite things to do in NYC now that the weather has warmed up:

Sheep's Meadow in Central Park

Citibike-ing down the Hudson River Park Bikeway at sunset

Drinking chilled wine al fresco on the patio of a Soho cafe

Picnic-ing at Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park (don’t forget to pack a frisbee!)

This article from Nerve.com really got me thinking about my favorite love songs from the past 100 years. From the Beach Boys “All You Need is Love” to Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You”, there are more amazing love songs than we could ever count.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux have been engaged going on 18 months… so, why haven’t they tied the knot yet?

The rumor mill says that the impasse is due to the amount of time they’ve spent apart since their engagement and also due to stressful wedding planning. The media reports that they are on the verge of breaking up…

Did you tune into The Oscars last night? As per usual, the red carpet was filled with glamorous red carpet couples, from Brad and Angelina to Will and Jada and Goldie and Kurt. However, in my mind, one couple especially stood out – Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves.

McConaughey was quite the dapper gentleman in a black and white tuxedo by Dolce and Gabbana and his wife stunned in a pale pinkGabriela Cadena gown.

Eight years into their relationship and with three kids, this couple seems to be more in love than ever. (How cute is this picture, taken just after the Texan's big win for Best Actor?)

In the actor's touching acceptance speech, he thanked his beautiful wife and family:

"To my wife, Camila, and my kids, Levi, Vida, and Mr. Stone, the courage and significance you give me every day when I go out the door is unparalleled. You are the four people in my life that I want to make the most proud of me. Thank you."

I'm thrilled to share some recent coverage of my business at TheRichest.com. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Samantha Daniels is the owner of Samantha’s Table, a matchmaking service for the “discerning and discreet”. Samantha runs her service a little differently in that she does not only introduce clients to other clients. Often times Samantha will introduce clients to people she knows socially on personal or professional levels. They are available as dates to her clients only because of the personal relationships she has with them. Samantha focuses her efforts in the New York City and Los Angeles markets. She introduces people one-on-one over drinks, thereby avoiding the stress of a long awkward dinner. As with most matchmakers, the intro fee of $25,000 can go up depending on the package best suited to the client.

Every year at about this time, people start to think back on the year that is coming to a close, and reflect upon all the things they didn't accomplish that they had hoped they would. For single people, often high up on that list is the fact that they didn't get married or get into that significant relationship for which they had been looking. Instead of harping on things you can't change from the past, here are some New Year's resolutions that might actually help you find and fall in love in 2014:

Did your year not end with
a New Year's kiss?

1. Remove negative influences from your life. Whether or not you want to admit it, there is negativity all around you. Acknowledge this and do your darndest to remove it from your life. This means negative friends, relatives and colleagues.

2. Date people you wouldn't usually date. All single people get into dating ruts from time to time. If you know that your dating life has hit a familiar pattern that always ends up poorly, make a resolution to date differently in 2014. Date people you wouldn't usually date and see if this changes your relationship luck.

3. Join an online dating site, even if you think you are not that kind of person. Face the facts: in this day and age, almost every single person is either online dating or working with a professional matchmaker like myself. If you rationalize that online dating is just not for you, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to meet someone who could be your mate. Just take a deep breath and do it.4. Move to a new home, if you have been procrastinating doing so. One of the things I constantly hear from single people is that they refrain from moving because they might meet their significant other, and then what? This is a bad excuse. You will be more apt to meet your honey if you are living your life and moving forward. It would be a high classproblem if you need to figure out what to do with your new home because you met the One.

5. Reach out to old friends with whom you have been meaning to catch up. With sites like Facebook and LinkedIn being all the rage, you have no excuse for not reconnecting with old friends. Just friend them somewhere, make a plan to get together and then see if they know someone great for you. Friends love introducing their friends to each other.

6. Participate in an activity that is outside your comfort zone. Doing new things is a great way to expand your social circles and meet new people. Go ahead and choose something you have always wanted to do, but have never done. Join a baseball league, join a tennis club, take a cooking class, just do something and keep your eyes open for other single people while you are doing it.

7. Get a date makeover, so you look and feel your best. It's always good to change your look a little to shake things up in your dating life. Go ahead and get a new haircut, add highlights to your hair, go buy a new sexy date outfit that will wow the opposite sex or buy a new color lipgloss. Make a change and you will be surprised how many people will notice you in a different way and compliment you too.

8. Get fit and healthy. This needs to be a top priority in 2014. Stop making excuses that this doesn't matter, because it absolutely does. Being fit and healthy is the number one characteristic that both men and women tell me is of importance to them in a mate. Take a step to becoming more fit and you will see a huge difference in your dating life.

9. Do some self analysis about why are not in love. You are the only constant in every one of your dating situations and in every relationship which you have been in. You need to take a very long, hard look at how you are being perceived in the dating world and then make some important changes to improve that perception. Are you too negative? Do you play too hard to get? Are you not feminine enough? Are you too picky? Do you never have a plan for the date? Are you commitment-phobic? Figure out what you can improve or change and do it, immediately.

10. Stop the booty calls with people who are not real contenders. It's time to be smart if you are looking for a real relationship. My mother always told me that if you have someone in your life, no matter how inconsequential, you are not trying as hard to meet someone else because you are distracted. This is fact. Get rid of Late Night Larry or Late Night Linda if you want to meet your true love in 2014.

Would you go on a blind group date? NYC start-up Grouper is offering its users the opportunity to do just that by arranging for two groups of friends (typically a group of girls and group a guys) to meet up at a local bar or restaurant. I offered up my opinion on Grouper on a recent CNBC.com article.

Here's an excerpt:

Samantha Daniels, president of Samantha's Table Matchmaking, said that millennials' noncommittal nature has shaped the way they approach their offline social life, and Grouper is tapping into that shift.

Grouper said users also have made romantic connections through the more informal group gatherings.

"Most of the time, people want to meet people through friends—there's a comfort level," Daniels said. "The success rate may not be as high as a more traditional way of meeting someone. But like my grandmother says, 'If you're invited somewhere, you should always go.' You never know what's going to happen."

“Today, because both the man and woman earn money and contribute to the financials and the decision-making, it’s not surprising that both of them are involved in all aspects [of choosing and paying for the ring],” she told TODAY.com. “I think it makes for a better connection between the two people.”

I was thrilled to write this piece for the New York Post on my recent marriage . Read the full article here.

Samantha Daniels is the founder of matchmaking service Samantha’s Table, author of “Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern Day Matchmaker” and the inspiration behind NBC’s 2003 show “Miss Match,” in which her life story was portrayed by Alicia Silverstone. But the 42-year-old successful NYC-based matchmaker was perpetually single – until finally getting hitched last spring. Below, she shares the story of how she finally found true love.

Samantha Daniels and her husband Steve Farber

Deep down, I always wondered why marriage eluded me. I give great romantic advice. I’ve helped more than 300 people get married. Yet for more than 13 years, I was known as “The Single Matchmaker,” unable to reach the promised land myself.

I was proud of my accomplishments, but I was in the same boat as all of my successful clients: I had everything I wanted in my life, except for one person with whom to share it all. That is, until last March, when I finally married my true love.

How did I ultimately land my own big fish? I went through the same dating trials and tribulations as any other single New Yorker. I hit rock bottom with the last guy I dated before I met my husband. That boyfriend told me I was beautiful and that he could see himself marrying me. But a partner at his hedge fund told him no divorced man of his “success and stature” should commit to another marriage before dating a professional model. So he promptly broke up with me and found one. I got so fed up I took myself off the dating market, lest I start hating men forever.

During my one-month dating hiatus, I finally gave myself the same kind of tough love I give my clients every day: No more eliminating guys because they didn’t meet my stringent checklist. No more turning down invitations because I didn’t think I would meet my future husband there. No more sitting back and waiting for love to come to me.

My leap back into the dating pool was tested early. My friend Lori invited me out to the Breslin at the Ace Hotel at the spur of the moment. Normally I would have declined, but I made myself follow my grandmother’s cardinal dating rule: “Go, because you never know who you are going to meet.” When I arrived, Lori was nowhere to be found. But there was a handsome man with wavy brown hair, hazel eyes and kissable lips at the bar. Old Samantha would have waited for him to approach. But Ready-To-Follow- My-Own-Rules Samantha marched up to him and said, “Hello.”

“What do you do for a living?” he asked.

“We’ll have time for business talk later,” I flirted. It turns out Steve Farber, 39, was a successful finance guy — and my future husband.

Thirty minutes later, he was staring into my eyes, saying he wanted to kiss me. In the past, I would have played hard to get, but the new me coyly said, “OK.”

I soon learned he had kids and was separated. In the past, I would have steered clear of separated dads. But I decided to give Steve a chance. Maybe he was the marrying kind.

It turns out he was. Three years later, after living together, a romantic proposal in St. Lucia and an intimate Manhattan wedding, I am a single matchmaker no longer. I gave myself a good kick in the butt, followed my own rules and decided to date like a woman who was going to get married instead of a woman who was hoping to get married. And I did.

Details: Celebrity Matchmaker Samantha Daniels and Money Manager Steve Farber opened up their Wainscott home for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at sunset in a mid-century modern setting. Guests were invited to come meet NYC Mayoral candidate, Jack Hidary. They sipped summery NYC themed cocktails and enjoyed nibbles from Je ne sais quoi caterers and Steve'sice cream from Brooklyn. Hidary gave an inspiring speech about his candidacy and how he hopes to shape NYC when he is elected.

Read the entire article here, and find more pictures of the event here.

The Saturday evening cocktail party in Wainscott, New York, is being billed as a chance to meet Hidary up close, and the dress code is “Hamptons chic.”

Daniels is the creator of “Samantha’s Table,” billed as an “exclusive, discreet and high-end matchmaking service for the ultra-successful, ultra-busy, ultra-cultured and the ultra-educated.”

At the time of publication the upscale Matchmaker hadn’t responded to a query from The Algemeiner, asking if she had a potential candidate to introduce to the eligible Jewish bachelor, but, in a final note on the invite, Daniels told her guests, “We hope to see all of our married, coupled off and single friends, as ‘Samantha The Matchmaker’ will be off-duty!”

Last weekend, I attended one of my favorite annual events in the Hamptons, Super Saturday. It's a shopping event sponsored by several notable designers, and there are always amazing buys to be found. Not to mention, it's all for a very worthy cause, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. This year, they raised over 3.5 million dollars. Pretty incredible.

Glam.com wrote a great piece on the event, and I had a fun time contributing my memories. Here's an excerpt:

"Samantha Daniels, celebrity matchmaker and president of Samantha’s Table, has been attending Super Saturday since 2000. She began coming as a volunteer, once working the Valentino booth, and afterward was allowed to buy a pale pink handbag for $50 that she still owns to this day. This is just one of many fond Super Saturday memories for her: “I discovered Christina Perrin for the first time. I wound up buying 2 floor length beaded skirts for $75 each when they retailed for over $2000. And I found myself chatting with the designer that day. She invited me to her showroom thereafter and I wound up doing a photo shoot for the New York Times! It doesn’t stop there; the same year that Daniels’ best friend won two sets of golf clubs and a weekend getaway at a golf resort, she won a trip for two to London, including airfare, a two night hotel say and a digital camera!"

Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have finally announced the name of their royal son: Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. And already, the world is in love with him. Prince George has many years to live up to the name carried by many a royal and many a celebrity, but we all know he will inevitably become a heart-throb in his own right. Here's a list of our favorite heart-throb George's of all time; it's only a matter of time before this newly admired George tops the list.

George Jetson: Our cartoon George was ahead of his time jetting around in a flying car, working 1 hour a day, 2 days a week and having robots as housekeepers. What lady wouldn't have wanted to live such an A-list lifestyle?

George Washington: Our historical George, he was a giant in his time. Towering at 6'2, he was much taller than the average colonial. Who wouldn't be attracted to the tallest man in the land who just happened to be the first leader of the United States?

Babe Ruth: Our George "undercover." Most people don't know that this sports legend was born a George, but he was. He was definitely "a catch" in his day; after all, who wouldn't want to be with one of the greatest sluggers of all time?

George Forman: Our famous boxing George. He is quite a catch, given his ability to turn from sports star to entrepreneur and businessman. And he is certainly a family man, given that he has 12 children.

Curious George: Our only famous animal George. Who wasn't in love with this adorable star of his own series of international best-selling children's books?

George Jefferson: We loved him in The Jeffersons, especially when he moved on up. Weezy was one lucky lady!

George Lopez: Our most hilarious George. Rumor has it that he is currently single after getting a divorce in 2011. What woman wouldn't fall for a funnyman who had his own talk show as well as his own sitcom?

George Hamilton: Our tannest George. At 70, this George is still quite handsome and supposedly single at the moment. I thought sun made people look older, not better!

George Harrison: Our famous singing George. This Beatle was one of the original American musical heartthrobs. Who wouldn't fall in love with someone who could serenade them with "Something" or "Here's Comes the Sun?"

George Clooney: And how could we forget our most obvious George and Hollywood's longest available bachelor. Plus, he is newly single to boot. Maybe this George should have starred in the movie, Catch Me If You Can, instead of Leonardo DiCaprio. Ladies, do your darndest!

Can you think of any other eligible George's you would like to see on this list?

If you're single and heading out of town for vacation this summer, you might be crossing your fingers for a passionate vacation romance. Vacation romances occupy a special place in our hearts. They thrill us because they have a set expiration date. When we're in the midst of one, we can already feel it metamorphosing into a precious memory. And once one is over, we feel teased by what was an impossible love, however, knowing that it was the impossibility that gave it its heightened sense of meaning.

If you decide that you don'twantyour summer romance to turn into a memory, and instead want to bring it home with you to real life, there are a few questions you should first ask yourself:

Are you sure that your new love is single and available? People will often use vacations as excuses to cheat on their partners. Make sure this isn't your love.

Would your lives fit together? Do you have common interests, values, and ways of life? While you're away from home, you may allow yourself to overlook these important commonalities, and not see the potential flaws in your new lover.

If your love doesn't live in your area, are you willing to put in all of the labor that a working long-distance relationship requires?

If your answer to these three questions is"yes", it is definitely worth exploring this relationship at home in real life. If not, it may be best to relinquish this romance, knowing that it will always live as a treasured memory.

Samantha's blog

I blog about dating, relationships, love and romance. I cover interesting romantic places for travel, unique romantic gifts, new and romantic restaurants, fun and worthwhile events, and interesting people who are making a difference.

Samantha's Table

Strategic Matchmaking

Welcome to Samantha's Table, the exclusive, discreet and high-end matchmaking service for the ultra-successful, ultra-busy, ultra-cultured and the ultra-educated. Samantha’s Table was founded by Samantha Daniels, an ivy league educated, modern-day Cupid over 10 years ago. At that time, Samantha decided to ditch her day job as an attorney and to start a business out of her hobby of matchmaking her friends. Now over 132 marriages and 1000’s of significant relationships later, Samantha is considered the best in the business.

Samantha strategizes with her clients to find them the only thing that is missing in their lives, that special someone with whom to share all of their successes. Samantha’s clients are very busy individuals so they hire Samantha focus on “quality” over quantity. Her clients date on their own all the time but they look to Samantha to find them “the one”, that special someone with whom to take “that final step” as opposed to the people they are choosing to “date for fun”.

As a result, Samantha maintains a database of more than 20,000 quality, high caliber individuals, just the type of people that her clients are interested in meeting. Samantha’s goal is to try to help each and every client get into a meaningful and long lasting relationship with someone who has “the full package” for the client- beauty, intelligence, success and good family values.

Samantha introduces people one-on-one over drinks. She finds potential dates for her clients by partaking in many charity committees, attending the most prestigious and exclusive events in New York and Los Angeles, traveling all over the world and consulting her large and confidential database.